I agree, as one of your customers, I agree there is a point of diminishing returns. Good luck in your endevor.

Hey Bob,

Why not support your TV ads with some aerial advertising before the game on Sunday and on Sat. as well...or the week leading up to the weekend.

We can make you some beautiful company banners...and..

We will have lots of planes flying out in Phoenix to fly them.

Bob,

What do you say we team our companies up to run a contest to see which business can produce the quirkiest/funniest superbowl ad?

Brett- Founder
Hot Pluto

Hi Bob,

I have to say that advertising on the Super Bowl might sound like a great opportunity but I like to be a bit more targeted with my marketing than that, expecially when it will cost you up in the millions of dollars. Will your return be worth it?

Also, you have a global customer base, how many of them watch the Super Bowl? Only the U.S.

In addition you should consider the amount of women on the internet like the many work at home moms (WAHM's) How many of them are avid super bowl watchers? Ok, there's a few, but most of WAHM's I know will either be watching the kids or online.

I think you'll get far more exposure and relavent exposure at that, from sticking to you online ads. After all, that's how I got to be a Godaddy customer

Elizabeth
http://www.homenotion.com

I think you should be in the big game. It is the biggest market of the year. Have you considered a consumer commercial contest? I have many great ideas and lots of people love these contests.

Forget the Super Bowl ads. Use the millions on more research and development to bring new and exciting resources and opportunities to the Go Daddy users and potential users.

Staying on top of technology and being on the cutting edge of services to be offered to the every day people and businesses would go a long way at expanding the brand and market share.

So for the same money, you develop revenue sources, provide new services to us and attract new customers.

Bob,

Keep your 10mil and spend it elsewhere such as other sporting events (nascar, soccer, fishing and hunting etc.) the superbowl is the end all to everybody. Why not start a traveling godaddy girl road show......

Actually a 30 second commercial showcasing the new GoDaddy Reseller Program (Super & Pro), Cash Parking, etc.

Tag line "it's time you get a piece of Daddy"

~Matt

Forget spending the money on a superbowl ad, I say 10 Million in free domain name registrations!! That would get you some free publicity too!

I say go for it, Bob. I have enjoyed your commercials every year. I always look for them.

In addition, I became a godaddy customer last year. Several of my friends have done so as well. None of us would have even heard of GoDaddy if it weren't for the REPEATED yearly ads.

Again,
Go for it!

Persoanlly I think you should not advertise this year at the superbowl. yes the superbowl is a massive TV event but its not as big as it appears. American football is not that well watched outside the US and besides the rest of the world doesn't see the US based adverts.

I would suggest going global, with soccer (football in the rest of world) given that its the biggest single sport in the world, Formula One, MotoGP, sponsor a Nascar team, sponsor a rally team.
Basically use the money from the one big hit and spread GoDaddy.com round the world in a more constant manner instead of just a one big hit.

Take a look at what Red Bull have done, they went with extreme sports to begin with and captured the young market fast. They then went into main stream motorsport on a global scale and now have there own air race series on top of all the other stuff.

$10 million for two or three ads during oen event seems a whole lot of money for a gain that is reducing and there are so many other sports and events out there that have just as big a following outside of the US in markets that will never be reached by the superbowl.

Who cares? Seriously, outside of Captain Richer-Than-You, who gives a damn? I haven't watched a Super Bowl since... Actually I have no idea, but it has been over a decade.

Hey, do what American Corporations are supposed to do, and spend some of that cash to buy some politicians. You can't dump ALL of it on trying to dredge up business by giving stupid, distracted people erections.

I did not read through the entire list of comments, as I'm not a blogger, it's Sunday, and I want to make Basket_King breakfast in bed, but I do have to say, Bob, that although I sincerely understand your reasoning not to advertise during the SuperBowl (you can use half that money for an advert somewhere else, and donate the rest to charity!), I am disappointed.

I know this is sacriledge, but I'm not a football fan (gasp). The only reason I (and Basket_King) watch the Superbowl is to see the commercials.

I guess we're going to have to brush up on Nascar, eh?

Oh, by the way! We loved the Go Daddy bike that Orange County Choppers created for you.

Keep up the good work, and keep fighting the good fight.

"May your GOOD be BETTER, and may your BETTER be BLESSED"

Basket_Queen

Bob:

If you're looking for new markets, here's one that you may not have considered: hit the anime crowd. This would be relatively inexpensive and would definitely be hitting your target market.

A great many of my colleages that are in the IT field follow shows such as Naruto Shippuuden, Bleach, and Kekkaishii. I suppose you could call these animated action soap operas; the plots are convoluted and unpredictable, and the action is nonstop. These (subtitled) feeds are translated by fansubs and posted hours after they're viewed on Japanese television. Hopefully you or one of your marketing folk will look into this, see bandwidth cost involved and see whether it makes business sense.

It's always interesting to see if Godaddy will advertise during the super bowl or not. I enjoy following the entire process as the whole journey is a great marketing tactic in my opinion. Being a Godaddy customer for many years now I only have great things to say about you and all that you do.

Bob,

I really liked the Godaddy Ads, but i never saw them on TV, i enjoyed them on internet. Basically i am from india and i shuffle myself between India and UK. And i also believe that you got a lot of customers who are not from USA. I dont see Godaddy as a US comapany but as an international one. So Spending all those millions just to target some specific area may not be worth spent. May be you can advertise on internet(you already do) but you can increase the budeget. Or You can conduct some kind of compititions on your website with prizes, i am sure this will work wonders. All the best, and keep the good work going on. By the way i do enjoy your blog.

Regards
Vas Kapavarapu

Who cares that Godaddy is forgoing 2008 Super Bowl. Your commericals are just pornographic material. Disguisting how all our money goes to that crap. Get over yourself and put the money towards quality products!

Dear Bob:GoDaddy should take the lead and use high quality generic domain names and tagline domains to promote buying domains and domain hosting services. The domain industry would lead by example based on integrity, performance and proven results. Other industries will follow after seeing firsthand from GoDaddy how powerful domain names are in a marketing strategy. Domainers support and give their business to GoDaddy. You should buy premium domain names for premium values for generic domain names that are owned and coveted by domainers to promote registering domain names and domaining brokerage. It's about time the registrars take care of domainers who are feeding them. Domainers will put their profits back into the industry by buying more domains!Reward your customers & invest in generic domain name-related portfolios and use these generic domain names as an online marketing strategy to drive traffic and boost business within the domain industry; i.e., if a Cadillac salesman doesn't drive a Cadillac that creates a value conflict. What an amazing PR story it would be to see GoDaddy buy and pay a premium for high quality domain name portfolios of generic domain names geared for domaining from domainers (their loyal customers). Perhaps hold a live auction selling the hottest generic domain names that relate to domain names, domaining brokerage, domaining developers, etc. It's time for GoDaddy to step up to the plate. Domainers are playing their role by investing in domain names. In order for the industry to grow rapidly, we need big corporate dollars to enter the domain space to reward domain investors for their vision, hard work and dedication. We've read for the last few years about how Madison Avenue needs to understand the power of domains... how about baby steps to success... start within the industry and lead by example to show other industries how its done by using powerful domain marketing strategies within the domain industry to promote domain related services. The success stories behind domain marketing and the use of generics as well as tagline domain names will carry over into other industries. Thus, the message will be sent and then replicated by every industry. This will prove the power of generic domain names, domain name brands, and geo-domain names. Build GoDaddy by developing internet real estate with domain name marketing through the power of great domain industry related domain names. GoDaddy spends millions of marketing dollars on traditional marketing on TV with their Super Bowl ads. It would be awesome to hear that GoDaddy paid millions of dollars to domain investors for domain names & porfolios. The PR alone would be worth its weight in gold. Domaining companies should be putting their marketing dollars into premium domain names not TV and promote domaining online as a role model!GoDaddy would be putting money back into our industry not big media. Invest in domains!
All the best, S. Granville-Smith, InsideDomaining.com

Keep up the good work.

Thanks..

Bob, long time customer and more, first time poster, and i think it's time I posted a few words and ideas.

The Super bowl is dead...people just don't realize it yet. The target market that the Super bowl ads used to attract isn't there anymore, because of the whole Janet fiasco..and subsequently the Go Daddy ads. yeah the 1st few ads worked but at the same time it milked the cow dry so to speak. before the 24-35 market watched the Super bowl for the ads, we were part of that generation where they had good once in a lifetime commercials along with once in a lifetime games. But all that seems to have gone to way side. Most commercials are so bland and compromised of their original concepts, it's not even worth watching and the games..well to say the least I'd rather be changing the oil on my bike.

Which leads me to wonder why, with all the fast cars, fast bike, and fast ladies to drove/ride them. Why has there been no motorcycle sponsorships. You have a Go Daddy bike built by American Choppers, you rode to sturgis, you have one of the fastest females on 2 wheels, why not reach the rest of that market?

Supercross, Motocross, MotoGP, hell anything AMA related these are markets that target the young and willing to spend a few books to get their names out their, and they cross the big barrier of most American sports they are watched and followed by those across the pond. Your based in Arizona which holds one of the largest motorcycle residencies in the country due to our nearly year round ideal riding conditions, yet, I've never seen any kind of ad or promotion at any of the local AMA events that are held in the same city.

Anyway, just thought it was odd and hoped to peek your interest in the field. if you do decide to do the ad, well I'll be one of those that didn't see during the game, since the hot phoenix sun will have finally stopped scorching the desert floor and will allow for some pristine riding temperatures around Phoenix and maybe even out to the Canyon Lake or South Mountain for the day.

I really wanted to advertise a domain name on the sell auction right after the superbowl. I know this is when your site has the most hits. Especially for new customers. To be honest, This was the way I herd about Godaddy. maybe you could at least do one commercial.

Dear Bob,

A large consideration as to whether or not to post Ads during the Superbowl would be what your competition is doing. Not that you have any real competition to worry about, but if another company were to post some great advertising during the Superbowl and Godaddy was nowhere to be found they may be able to bite off a few % of the market share.

If the competition is posting some commercials, it may be worth posting one or two of your own in an effort of saving your market share. Because being such a dominate player in the internet domain business is part of what helps your company stay on top. Of course, great prices and customer service make up a large part of of why you stay on top as well.

If another company were able to steal a chunk of your market, then a "buzz" may develop around them. This "buzz" may convert into a large amount of sales causing them to grow into a company that is able to compete with your services.

With so many blogs and social networking Websites "buzz" is able to travel at a pace never seen before so companies that are on the top of the market now have to watch their competition closely.

Just something to consider. I think your services are wonderful wish your company all the best.

Keep an eye on the competition.
If other registrars also stay on the sidelines on Super Sunday, fine. But if one of'em jumps in, you may have to play ball. I've said before and will say again: Bob, you can have great commercials and stay within the playing rules. Their are great ones out there that are not girly. Goto YouTube and search for the ad, Nextel baby baby. It's an awesome example.

What is a super bowl? Is it something like a Test Match at cricket here over the pond? We've not yet seen any adverts over here. Don't we matter in good old England?

Bob,

I don't think you realize how big a part you play in the big game. I want to see your next ad as much as I want to see the game-maybe more. The Go Daddy spot last year was so raucaus it eclipsed the game. I think you could get advertisers to go with product placements to be part of it and help defray the costs. You have built momentum in this country that's pallpable now go for the big ride! If the train doesn't go as fast as you want get off next year.

You'd actually shoot an elephant just because he's charging at you and you're on his territory?

Bob-
as a GoDaddy girl, I just wanted to say that the only thing i knew about godaddy when I started was from the SuperBowl commercials.
Since then I have spread the word as to what you do at countless events- GoDaddy events and my own when people ask. For those less internet-savvy, I am easily able to explain GoDaddy by reminding them about the infamous SuperBowl commercials. Thus begins an understanding and an interest in what we offer. I was even able to get my boss to register through GoDaddy after such a discussion.

Regardless of what you do, television is a powerful tool and you will always be remembered for the most GoDaddy-esque commercial there ever was.

No Superbowl????? And what does that mean for your LOVELY new GoDaddy girl, Lara?

If you're allowed to express your creative edgy content better at different venues for less money with the same result...DO IT!
The Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction turned the Superbowl decision makers into a Granny Conference. With the P.C. moral patrol trying to make our Theater Popcorn tasteless; our cheeseburgers into brown rice & beans; our cig puffin friends into fiends, and our SUV's into instruments of Global Death, I would like to see godaddy slip the Supebowl a middle finger salute, and move on to where we can keep our rebel integrity.
Love you guys...
Keep the faith

Hey Forget the Superbowl.

Give away a night on the town in Vegas with all of the Go Daddy Hotties. You know a little drinking a little dining and a lot of Hottie Fun!

You get 1 entry for every domain you have registered, and 5 for every new domain that you register during the contest.

I have a few domains that are scattered around at different sites. I am working on moving them all to your service.

Keep up the good work.

mokin Joe